Volkswagen's electric people's car looks like it could be a huge success

It was a bold statement from Volkswagen to claim that the ID.3 electric car would represent just the third chapter in the company’s long history. After all, the first two were rather successful – the original Beetle and then all generations of the Golf sold rather well didn’t they?

Still, if pre-orders are anything to go by, it seems as though the newly-named ID.3 could live up to that claim. Within 24 hours of opening up sales earlier this week, VW received a staggering 10,000 pre-orders.

All of those orders were for the 1st Edition spec, which includes the mid-spec battery and a range of over 420km at a cost of less than €40,000. Unfortunately, the camo-wrap above isn’t an option – we’ll see the final product at the Frankfurt motor ahow later this year.

The first cars will start arriving with customers in mid 2020, and VW also says that its Zwickau plant is on track to be converted to a fully EV producing factory in the near future. Eventually, that one plant will be making 330,000 plug-in cars every year. Crikey.

Reckon the ID.3 could tempt you into using an EV as a daily driver? Remember there will also be a base model, with 330km of range and a <€30,000 price tag, as well as a 550km long-ranger. Watch this space.

STORYGreg Potts

Author: TopGear

Top Gear is a British television series about motor vehicles, primarily cars, and is the most widely watched factual television programme in the world.